In the cleverly-titled column, "City of Brotherly Love? My butt!", Wells hits all the main points one desires to touch on when ripping on Philadelphia ("It's not Brotherly Love in that town - it's Brotherly Hate." - zing!), although to his credit, he managed to show some restraint and refrained from discussing how Philadelphians once booed and threw snowballs at Santa. He does not, however, quell any stereotypes regarding the typical Philly fan, so apparently, the Yankees - and any broadcaster, for that matter - better be ready for the onslaught.

Wells relays a story about how fans called Cal Ripken a homo when the TBS baseball studio crew were doing a broadcast from Citizens Bank Park during the playoffs.

When I was in Philadelphia earlier this postseason with Cal Ripken Jr., Dennis Eckersley and Ernie Johnson for TBS, we got booed. We were just doing our show out in center field and people were walking by saying "You fat piece of [bleep]. . . . Tell Cal he's gay. . . . Ernie Johnson sucks."

I'm like, "Who the hell are these people?" We've got no part of baseball.

We're doing the game and TBS stuff and these Phillies fans are just f-bombing us to death.

How dare they, right? Wells does maintain that there are "true good fans in Philly who are respectable and do the right thing," the bad apples "take away from the good fans they have there, because I think Philadelphia does have some good fans." Aw, that's nice. I'm sure the residents of Philadelphia who aren't mouth-breathing mongoloids appreciate his deference.

Overall, it isn't a bad column given that I didn't even know that David Wells knew how to read, let alone write. I'm thinking Pulitzer!

City of Brotherly Love? My butt! [New York Post]

The lawsuit suit, filed by former MSG Network president Bob Gutkowski says he introduced the idea for a Yankee-centric network to Steinbrenner over the course of several meetings back in the 90s, after which Steinbrenner assured him either an upper-level development position or bags of money in the event of a deal. When neither came, he tried to schedule a meeting to gripe.

Gutkowski never got that meeting, although he did receive a textbook shaft, courtesy of the Boss.

In Gutkowski's words:

"[T]heir position was to stall me, string me along and, in the end, block the meeting. Their actions made it clear that the only way for me to be fairly compensated for the idea that I brought to George and the work that I performed was to sue him."

Sorry it had to come to this, Bob.

[ [NYTimes]

The survey of New York residents, conducted by the Times with Cornell University and NY1 News, reveals the following:

Over all, the Yankees have more fans than the Mets citywide by a 9-point margin, with 34 percent of New Yorkers in the city supporting the Yankees, 25 percent favoring the Mets, 34 percent saying they do not have an allegiance to either team, and 6 percent considering themselves fans of both teams.

Demographically, the poll found some differences between Mets and Yankees fans. Women are more likely than men to say they do not support either New York team, but over all, women who are fans are significantly less likely than men to back the Mets.

City baseball fans under the age of 45 favor the Yankees over the Mets by a 2 to 1 margin, but those 45 years of age and older are evenly divided in their support.

In the "shouty dickhead in a replica jersey" demographic, the teams split the vote.

Poll Finds Yankees Win City's Popularity Contest [The New York Times]

On first glance, it looks to be the classic sign of the horns so beloved of Slayer fans and certain residents of Texas, with perhaps a vulgar twist. But you'll notice the extended thumb. This seemingly minor detail turns the gesture into the ASL sign for "I love you."

We contacted Pete Abraham, the Journal News' excellent Yankees beat guy and proprietor of The LoHud Yankees Blog. He traces the gesture's roots to spring training, a slack time of year particularly suited to developing nonverbal modes of communication. Swisher is very likely the originator, as evidenced by this photo (note the index fingers, however):

Abraham, on our behalf, asked Swisher about its meaning. "It doesn't mean anything," Swisher said. "Just something we do. Rock and roll, I guess."

But surely there's more to it than that. For further elaboration, we showed the photos to David McNeill, professor emeritus of psychology and linguistics at the University of Chicago, who is writing a book about the role of gesture in the development of language. He e-mails:

Your guess (the 'horn' - meaning evil eye, cuckold) seems good to me. That is, I think it's a kind of contempt gesture. This, combined with the tongue sticking out, plus the home run context, makes me think that the whole constellation is a gesture of triumph plus derision. ... The two live-action Damon examples differ from the original in interesting ways. First of all, he combines hand and face into a single gesture, whereas the original had them as two gestures (how you count gestures is somewhat arbitrary, but I mean there is more integration in the Damon versions). Second, he has three fingers extended, one more than the original. This interests me, and I think it may be an adjustment to having combined hand and face. If you try to do that with the hand in the original 'horn' gesture form, it's quite difficult, but by folding his index and second finger under his chin, and extending the ring and first fingers, he makes a nice chin cup; then the extended thumb is really unnecessary but was part of the original 'horn' and is quite awkward to fold in to get rid of, so it is still there, too. So Damon has transformed the gesture into a true symbol, with parts working together.

"Triumph and derision" is a fairly succinct summary of the Yankee Way. I-Team's conclusion: The gesture is a commingling of all of the above — a symbol of rock 'n' roll, triumph, derision. And, perhaps, one Yankee outfielder's taste for cunnilingus.

It seems Nick Swisher, who is destined for a long season of trying to make the Yankees a smidge less insufferable, did not much appreciate the Daily News' wit. Via Peter Abraham's LoHud Yankees Blog:

Just before we left, good ‘ol Nick Swisher walked through the clubhouse and tore off the covers of all the Daily News sitting on a table. They read "22-4!" on the front and "You Stink" over a picture of Chien-Ming Wang on the back. "New day," Swisher shouted. "It's a new day, brotha."

But right now the Yankees are losing 16 - 2 to Cleveland and Fox is sticking with this game, instead of going to the Cardinals vs Cubs game.

ALERT THE ACLU, BRO! Mercifully, I don't have to find a moving way to say "get some perspective hater" because the Times ran this tearjerker today.

In light of today's allegations that Rodriguez tested positive for two banned substances in 2003, this blunt denial by Rodriguez seems somewhat humorous. But then again, isn't everything A-Rod does kind of humorous? Oh, and Katie - I know you're trying hard to be taken seriously as a journalist, but the soft focus on the interview sure doesn't help the image. Here's your money quotes:

"For the record, have you ever used steroids, human growth hormone or any other performance-enhancing substance?" Couric asked.

"No," Rodriguez replied.

Asked if he had ever been tempted to use any of those things, Rodriguez told Couric, "No."

"You never felt like, 'This guy's doing it, maybe I should look into this, too? He's getting better numbers, playing better ball,'" Couric asked.

"I've never felt overmatched on the baseball field. I've always been a very strong, dominant position. And I felt that if I did my work as I've done since I was, you know, a rookie back in Seattle, I didn't have a problem competing at any level. So, no," he replied.

I have a feeling this is going to be a fun story.

[CBS News]

In a story published today on SI.com that will probably not surprise the readership of this site but that will provide Around The Horn with weeks of material, Selena Roberts and David Epstein write that Rodriguez tested positive for both the anabolic steroid Primobolan and, in a surprising twist, testosterone:

Rodriguez's name appears on a list of 104 players who tested positive for performance-enhancing drugs in Major League Baseball's '03 survey testing, SI's sources say. As part of a joint agreement with the MLB Players Association, the testing was conducted to determine if it was necessary to impose mandatory random drug testing across the major leagues in 2004.

Surprised? You shouldn't be if you've been listening to the one man who's, oddly enough, been right more often than not throughout this whole steroids issue, Jose Canseco. Last March, Will Leitch wrote about Canseco's book, Vindicated, in which Rodriguez is tied to steroids.

As for Alex Rodriguez, Canseco says he didn't inject Rodriguez, but that he "introduced Alex to a known supplier of steroids." Canseco didn't mention Rodriguez in the first book because he "hated the bastard." He was worried that people would have "questioned [his] motives" had he included Rodriguez.

Why all the hatred, you ask. Well, Canseco claims that A-Rod was trying to sleep with Canseco's wife. Apparently, even after Canseco had been nice enough to help A-Rod find a friendly steroids supplier, A-Rod kept calling Canseco's wife.

And, in case there's any further confusion about Canseco's true feelings, he ends the chapter by saying:

So A-Rod, if you're reading this book, and if I'm not getting through to you, let's get clear on one thing: I hate your fucking guts.

It's hard to admit it, but it looks like Jose Canseco was right again.

Former Yankee and Country Buffet enthusiast David Wells gets his licks in on Tim Montemayor's show on Sporting News Radio recently. Let's listen to the fun.

Joe Torre should be called J-Fraud. He managed guys like Jeter — guys that were very easy to manage — those everyday players. But when there were guys under the bubble that were struggling, or basket cases like me I guess, he didn’t want anything to do with us.

Joe, he wasn’t tough on guys, he just treated you like crap. If you weren’t in his little circle — the circle of trust — then he could care less about you. I’ve had quite a few confrontations with him. It’s like guys get to fly early … I had to fly with the team — it’s stuff like that. If you’re going to do it for one guy, you might as well do it for the rest, and that’s what he didn’t do with the majority of guys.

Among Torre's boys, according to Wells, were Paul O'Neill, Andy Pettitte, Mariano Rivera, Derek Jeter and Roger Clemens.

Then, on "The Mason & Ireland Show," 710-AM ESPN Radio in Los Angeles, Wells talked about the line in the Torre book in which he wrote "The difference between Kevin Brown and David Wells is that both make your life miserable, but David Wells meant to."

"I'm kind of like blown away because of the fact that he's coming out and he's bashing," Wells said. "I found out last night that he was bashing me and Kevin Brown. He bashed Kevin Brown as a player, when he said he tried to make his life miserable. Nobody tries to make anybody's life miserable out there on the diamond. You're there for one reason and one reason only, and that's to win. If I was trying to make his life miserable, I would have succeeded.

"What we do as athletes, that's our problem, our business, and a lot of guys have come out and destroyed that," Wells said. "That's why they don't have any friends. You just don't do that, and that's what Joe did. When you break the code, you're a punk."

No telling where this will end; I'm just hoping it doesn't end soon. Any bat boys or security guards who have a Yankee story they'd like to relate? New York cabbie: "Torre was a lousy tipper." That book, co-written by me, will be out in May.

David Wells Calls Out Joe Torre: J-Fraud [Larry Brown Sports]
Wells Comments On Torre's Book [MLB.com]
David Wells: Joe Torre Had His 'Boys' [Newsday]

You know the old saying: nothing good ever happens at 1 a.m. in Nebraska. Well, Yankees pitcher Joba Chamberlain found out the hard way last night, as his evening ended with him in handcuffs.

Joba Chamberlain was arrested for driving under the influence early Saturday morning near his hometown of Lincoln, Neb.

Deborah Collins, a spokeswoman for the Nebraska State Patrol, said that the 23-year-old Chamberlain was pulled over after being observed speeding in a 2006 BMW 750i shortly after 1 a.m. on U.S. 77. Chamberlain was arrested after an odor of alcohol was detected and an open container of alcohol was observed on the front passenger seat.

As if the Yanks weren't having a hard enough time after a disastrous season, and now helplessly watching as their arch rivals rise from the dead in the ALCS.

Charges are expected to be filed on Monday for the 23-year old.

Chamberlain arrested in Nebraska [The LoHud Yankees Blog]

NOOOOOOO! [3:10 To Joba]

The creative sword-rattlers at ANIMAL New York decided that the Pope's visit was a perfect opportunity to promote their magazine/website and decided to hire two odd looking ladies to distribute specially made "Popeylactic" condoms outside of Yankee Stadium to those hoping to catch a glimpse of the old guy in the funny looking hat.

If you're going to sin, you might as well be safe.

On The Street: The Pope-ylactics Edition [ANIMAL]

Clemens will be expected not just to win games that he starts, but to inspire an otherwise underachieving team to bust out of its sub-.500 season (10.5 games behind the Red Sox in the East, but "only" 5.5 games behind the Tigers for the Wild Card lead).

(One can reasonably ask how that might happen if the "Clemens Rules" of his contract means he isn't hanging around with his teammates in the clubhouse on days he isn't pitching. When "isn't hanging around" means "residing in another state.")

Nevertheless, Clemens' debut is the Big Story of the Day in baseball. Feel free to use this post with live-commenting to track the game. If you couldn't care less, I respect that, too. I won't be live-blogging. (This guy is.)

Alex Belth at Bronx Banter has Clemens going .500 with a sub-4.50 ERA, which would make him the most expensive mediocrity in history. I am no Yankees fan, but I'm much more bullish: 12-plus wins, an ERA that starts with a "2," and an AL Cy Young award. But no playoffs.
— D.S.

Clemens Live-Blog [Dave Lozo]
Nevermind the Hoopla, Just Win Baby [Bronx Banter]
Image tip from TheWeeklyDonut.org